Chemo, Lumpectomy Prove Value For Breast Cancer

Medical digest

April 6, 1995

BOSTON — Long follow-up studies of breast cancer patients confirm the lasting benefits of two strategies that have become commonplace - combining chemotherapy with mastectomy, and removing just the lump. While now standard practice, both lumpectomy and chemotherapy were once controversial.

Some doctors argued that it would take a decade or two to learn if the new approaches were truly helpful. Now enough time has passed for an assessment of the long-term effects.

After 20 years of follow-up, 34 percent of those receiving chemotherapy were still alive, compared with 25 percent of the women who got surgery alone. The survival advantage was greatest in younger patients, who probably received higher doses of chemotherapy.

The other study, conducted by Dr. Joan A. Jacobson and others from the National Cancer Institute, looked at 237 women who received either lumpectomy or mastectomy for small early-stage tumors.

After 10 years, survival was virtually identical. About 75 percent were still alive in both treatment groups.